No label defined (Q4234480)

The main result in this note is the following. Let \( k\geq 2 \) be an integer and set \( c(n)= {1 \over k} \sum_{d|n}\mu(d) k^{n/d} \) where \( \mu \) is the Möbius function. Then the \( c(n)\)'s are integers and, for any prime divisor \( p \) of \( k\), the formal power series \( \sum c(n) x^{n} \) mod \( p \) is transcendental over \( \mathbb{F}_{p}(x)\). The proof is based on the \( p\)-automaticity of algebraic power series over a finite field and on the rationality of the natural density of the set of integers where a \( p\)-automatic sequence takes a given value. The number of primitive words of length \( n \) on an alphabet of cardinality \( k \) is \( k c(n)\). When \( k \) is a power of a prime integer, author points out that it is also the number of elements of \( \mathbb{F}_{k^{n}} \) whose degree over \(\mathbb{F}_{k}\) is exactly \(n\). For the entire collection see [Zbl 0896.00021].